Jambo!

Well, after almost exactly 24 hours of traveling, we made it to Kenya!

Jason Yocham and I left Midland at 1:30pm on Thursday, July 8^th and arrived in Nairobi at about 9:30pm (Nairobi time) on Friday, July 9^th. It was a long day, no doubt, but for some reason this trip seemed much quicker than either of the other trips I have taken to Kenya.

I thought I would give a briefing of who everyone is and what everything is before I start name dropping in my blogs assuming everyone knows who and what I am talking about…

Jason Yocham – family friend from Midland; also came to Kenya with our group over spring break

Francis Mbuvi (goes by Mbuvi) – Runs Made in the Streets which is where I will be working

Maureen Mbuvi – Francis' wife; Runs World Bible School where I will probably work some as well

Jonathan ("J") – Mbuvi and Maureen's oldest son who is 4 years old

Jeremy ("Remy") – Mbuvi and Maureen's youngest son who is 1 and ½ years old

Risper – Works with Maureen; I met her last July and have become close friends with her

Made in the Streets (MITS) – This program goes to the slums of Nairobi, brings in kids they find there, gives them a place to live, eat, go to school, go to church, and learn a trade. It is basically a school/church that gives slum children hope for a better life than they were living while teaching them about the love of God.

World Bible School (WBS) – This program is what initially got my church from Midland involved in Kenya; it started as a long distance correspondence bible class. Teachers in the United States would send bible lessons to students in Kenya who were interested in learning about the bible. Once they finished their classes and lessons they graduated from the program, usually were baptized, and many became teachers themselves. Maureen now is in charge of WBS and she has an office right by her house and by MITS.

 

I'm not sure if there are any other names that I will write about on a regular basis so for now, that's all you need to know!

Mbuvi picked us up at the airport last night and we got back to MITS around 11:30pm. Needless to say, we were both exhausted and went right to sleep!

There is a group from Southern California that has been putting on an incredible camp at MITS for the past week and ½. Today was their final day and they finished with a 5K and 10K for the students. Their theme was "born to run" so they found it appropriate to have a race to end the camp. Jason, Mbuvi and Maureen all ran, but I stayed behind and cheered everyone on with Jeremy strapped on my back sound asleep. After the race we all hung out for a while, I met all of the Southern Californians, they made fun of my accent and constant usage of "y'all" and then I headed back to the Mbuvi's house for lunch and a few hours to rest! There were about 20 people in the group from California. One of the couples with the group was Andy and Carrie Wall – Ben Wall's brother and sister-in-law! So if Lee Ann, Jill, Melissa, or any of you other Browns are reading this, tell Ben that I met them! I also met a couple who went to Pepperdine with Alan Brown! Small world, huh?

 

I am absolutely thrilled to be back. It's wonderful. As soon as I got off of the plane and walked down the stairs to go into the airport, nostalgia really hit me and I couldn't believe I was back in Kenya once again. I love it. I am unbelievably excited about these next 3 weeks. I know God is going to do some amazing things and I am fully expecting the Spirit to move in miraculous ways!

Tonight we all gathered together again for the final victory celebration to finish the camp that the California group had done. It was amazing. They decorated, had music playing, cooked a great meal, and had awards for each of the kids. It was wonderful seeing the MITS kids so happy. They had constant smiles spread from ear to ear. The looks on their faces said it all. They were so honored and so excited to know that someone loved them that much to do all of that for them. They had their own banquet. They were given awards. Someone took the time to make a video of them and their week at this camp. They were given a few hours to just be kids: to dance, to sing, to laugh, to play, to enjoy life. Isn't that what we all want? To just enjoy life. These kids never would have any kind of experience close to this except by the grace of God and His willing people who rescued these children from the slums and told them all that God had to offer them. And they are precious, precious children of God.

 

Thank you for the prayers. They are what will keep me going when I am tired. They are what will be the cause of the incredible things that will happen here. They are so important. So I really do thank you from the bottom of my heart. Your prayers are greatly appreciated.

 

Until next time…

-SG